A new report says Attorney General Jeff Sessions will double down on a Department of Justice claim that former FBI Director James Comey misrepresented an interaction between the two during sworn testimony last week.

Jonathan Swan at the news website Axios says Sessions will repeat under oath a DOJ claim that he “was not silent” following a conversation in which Comey, then the FBI director, informed him of a one-on-one meeting with President Donald Trump.

Sessions is set to testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday afternoon.

Comey said in sworn testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee that he felt Trump was trying to pressure him to drop an investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn. Comey testified that when he approached Sessions about the one-on-one meeting with the president, the attorney general remained silent.

“Sessions is expected to counter this, saying he responded to Comey by telling him the FBI and DOJ needed to be aware of official protocol regarding communications with the White House,” Swan said.

Sessions would not be the first government figure to go after Comey.

Following Comey’s testimony, Trump accused the former FBI director of lying and said he would “100%” be willing to answer questions under oath about the situation.

Here was the relevant portion of the original Department of Justice statement following Comey’s testimony:

“During his testimony, Mr. Comey confirmed that he did not inform the Attorney General of his concerns about the substance of any one-on-one conversation he had with the President. Mr. Comey said, following a morning threat briefing, that he wanted to ensure he and his FBI staff were following proper communications protocol with the White House. The Attorney General was not silent; he responded to this comment by saying that the FBI and Department of Justice needed to be careful about following appropriate policies regarding contacts with the White House.”

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About SouthernGirl2

A Native Texan who adores baby kittens, loves horses, rodeos, pomegranates, & collect Eagles.
Enjoys politics, games shows, & dancing to all types of music. Loves discussing and learning about different cultures.
A Phi Theta Kappa lifetime member with a passion for Social & Civil Justice.

The big and overriding takeaway from this hearing is that Sessions declined to answer almost all the pertinent questions – in most cases because they involved his discussions with President Trump and in at least one case (or this was what I understood him to be saying) discussions with other leaders at the Department of Justice. There’s an important back and forth about what basis he had for this refusal. That is important in itself. But the gist, as Sessions eventually seemed to concede, was that he was refusing to answer because he did not want to preclude or render moot the President’s ability to assert executive privilege.

Sessions himself eventually seemed to jettison this idea about longstanding DOJ policy and come back to what we might call this deferred executive privilege. Again, whole conversation about what the White House is up to sending people up to the Hill where they know they’ll get these questions and not making a decision in advance. But big picture, Sessions declined to answer most or all of the critical questions on the basis of executive privilege.

One more point on this front, Sessions appeared willing to answer some questions about what the President said in specific conversations and not others. I’d be curious to hear from lawyers whether this puts the asserted privilege on weaker ground.

We leave this hearing a bit murky on what I think was the main point: just what James Comey was referring to when he talked about Session’s role in any Russia related investigation being ‘problematic’. It certainly seems like Comey was referring to a third meeting at the Mayflower Hotel. That appeared to be what he mentioned in the subsequent closed session. Sessions categorically denied anything more than perhaps a handshake and pleasantries that he forgot.

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Even though 3Chics Politico is written and curated by three women: Ametia, Rikyrah, and SouthernGirl2, I must nominate this as one of the most engaging blogs I've found. Devoted to politics and culture, these three shine a light on contemporary life with humor and spirit.